Tag: swedish black metal

Swedish black/death – and some extremely violent shit! This band is another member of the Norwegian Inner Circle (based in Sweden), and play totally dark music like all the other members.. (Other Inner Circle members in Sweden include Dissection and Abruptum). Members of this band play for the godly death metal band DARKIFIED (which also has ex-Abruptum members). Eight tracks of ultra aggressive destruction. Outstanding tracks include “Still Dead”, “Sun Turns Black as Night”, and “Holy Inquisition.” They have just released a new full-length on Omose Productions entitled “Those of the Unlight.” (I should have it on this issue, but there were printing problems with the first batch.)

Recorded over a month on a Fostex 4-track, ARCKANUM completed the cult Trulen demo on this day in 1994.

The 15 song tape was originally limited to 111 hand-numbered copies, several hundred were released later.

The well known “Gava fran trulen” video takes audio from this demo. The song was re-recorded for the Fran marder album the following February.

I love everything within the forest landscapes, caves, marshes, swamps, etc. What I find so powerful with the forest is the chaos that is pulsing through its veins, the sides and worlds that are so well hidden that they might take five human lives to find. To see the darkness as the key to a new dimension and as a burning candle through paths that are gone in daylight. I think the spirit world in forests is very important to remember, and not to destroy the beauty of their kind. Societies are ruled by money, and cash rules the stupid so-called humans that destroy the forest landscapes just to get power and money. The damn fools are reaching for the wrong power. Money ain’t shit, and the same goes for humans. If I am going to rule, I’ll kill, rape and burn the human bodies to a crisp and fuckin’ piss on their ashes.
– Shamaatae / Arckanum interview, Chronicles of Chaos 1997

First available as a promo tape from the band, the Into Infinite Obscurity 7″ was released by Corpse Grinder Records (Arcveil, France) on this day in 1991.

DISSECTION started before Summer ’90 when Jon left RABBITS CARROT, where he was playing guitars. He recruited Ole also from R.C. though he’s still on that band. By these times, R.C. was playing shitty Thrash into METALLICA vein, but with the left of Jon, they became to play Death Metal suddenly, extrange isn’t it? Just a question of trends!!
The fact is that DISSECTION started to rehearse and they asked to a friend called Peter to play bass. He never played any instrument before, but he accepted!! They played their first show on a festival in Strömstad with ENTOMBED, CADAVER, NOSFERATU and RABBITS CARROT. They recorded two rehearsal trax separately which served them to get a bit known in the underground, but their aim was to record a studio demo in October, being delayed to some problems ’til December and it wasn’t mixed until February ’91. The demo is called “The Grief Prophecy” and it was recorded on a 16-trax studio. The sound is quite good and the cover is professionally done. The guitar sound is pretty near to RABBITS CARROT and they’re basically in the vein of the defunct CARNADE. Jon’s voice is totally shreddin’ and their music is very heavy and grinding with some fast parts on it. The songs included are “Severed Into Shreds”, “The Call Of The Mist” and “Consumed”. It’s dedicated to Jeff Becerra for his fatal accident.
They’ve signed with the new French label CORPSE GRINDER Rec. for a 7″. They’ll enter Sunlight Studios (ENTOMBED, THERION, CARNAGE, DRAK THRONE, etc.) to record three new songs and possibly one of the demo. Recently they’ve recruited a new guitarist called John Zwetsloot and surely their music will improve a lot.
– Dave Rotten, Drowned Magazine #2, 1991

I can’t remember the exact details. I think UNLEASHED already had a contract with Century Media and Johan had asked them to do a good word for TIAMAT. We recorded “The Astral Sleep” in the middle of 1991. TIAMAT was already a completely different band by then. Stefan and Anders were not in the band anymore because they wanted to concentrate on EXPULSION and were replaced by Thomas Petersson and Niklas Ekstrand. I didn’t feel comfortable anymore very quickly. Thomas and Niklas were not fans of Death Metal and prefered to listen to ordinary Rock. I think they would never have joined the band if we didn’t already have a record deal with TIAMAT. The new songs were also much slower and more atmospheric, the music was not nearly as extreme as in TREBLINKA. It wasn’t any longer why I was doing it for. Death Metal represented freedom for me. It was music where you could do completely your own thing and you didn’t care what others thought of it. I just started to dislike the whole situation more and more. I remember that I went sailing for a whole weekend with a friend the week before recording “The Astral Sleep” out of sheer frustration. I also didn’t feel like practicing the new songs with the others, I didn’t have any passion anymore for the band. And so, a week after the recording of “The Astral Sleep”, I quit the band.
– Jörgen ‘Juck’ Thullberg, Voices from the Darkside

After signing a deal with Century Media, TIAMAT released their second album on this day in 1991.

ANCIENT WISDOM was formed by Marcus Norman in 1992 as ANCIENT. Under the original name they released In the Eye of the Serpent in 1993.

Now as ANCIENT WISDOM they record the Through Rivers of the Eternal Blackness at Garageland Studios in December 1993. Around this time they signed a deal with Avantgarde and remained with them for all four albums.

For Snow Covered the Northland was recorded, again at Garageland, a year later (December 94).

Due to technical errors the album was not released until this day in 1996. By that time Marcus Norman was the sole remaining member. He would begin recording the next album, The Calling, a few months after this release (Dec 96).

Marcus E. Norman – continued with Ancient Wisdom, the last release was Cometh Doom, Cometh Death in 2004. He formed BEWITCHED in 1995 and joined NAGLFAR in 2000.

Andreas Nilsson – Guitar – has been with NAGLFAR since 1993.

Fredrik Jakobsson – Bass – was also vocalist with THRONE OF AHAZ but hasn’t been active since 1996.

Ulf Andersson – Drums – last recorded with NOCTURNAL RITES in 1998.

Jens Ryden – Keyboard – was vocalist with NAGLFAR until 2005, formed Profundi in 2006 and is current vocalist with THYRFING.

We have changed our name to TIAMAT because it does really fit our lyrics better. The Satanic image is to keep the Unholy Black Metal alive. Some people (in fact, alot of people) want to kill it but early Venom, Possessed, Destruction, Slayer, Sodom will forever live on in our minds!!! Our image is a tribute to the good old black metal!!!

Released 26 years ago today, the classic and still highly influential debut TIAMAT album!

Sumerian Cry, the classic Swedish Black Metal TIAMAT record from 1990 will be reissued on white vinyl in early May. This record is absolutely essential for fans of the modern occult death metal revival, the late-eighties/early nineties Swedish Death Metal scene (this was released a few days after Left Hand Path), and of course anyone interested in early black metal (Sodom, Sarcofago, Root etc.)!!! A completely possessed album musically, great drumming, some avant-garde flourishes hinting at their future career, and amazing bestial vocals!
That deep, hollow, inhuman voice echoed…

C.M.F.T. Productions was based in a town just down the road from us – Bury St. Edmunds. Between 1988 and 1990 they released several LPs, and a couple of CDs and tapes. The majority of their releases were UK and European thrash.

After the recording, “Sumerian Cry” got released by CMFT, a record company in England. The album barely got any attention when it was released. I think CMFT was already as good as bankrupt when the album came out. We never did any promotion for it, I can’t remember that we even did a single interview for it or that even a single ad was placed in a magazine for it. ENTOMBED and CARNAGE were much more lucky because their record company really stood behind them.
– Jörgen “Juck” Thullberg (Voices from the Darkside webzine)

A return had been hinted for a while, but it was still a surprise to hear new material from EXCESSUM last month. Over ten years have passed since the release of Death Redemption, their last album.

Released in 2005 amid an abundance of Swedish black metal releases, specifically the sound and ideology associated with NED and Sweden’s SPR. EXCESSUM belong comfortably in that set, comparing favourably to some of the NED roster, early WATAIN, and DISSECTION to a lesser degree. It does feel more measured and less chaotic than their contemporaries, partly due to the slightly muddy production, but principally the sombre atmosphere filled with great riffs as on the triumphant Lies of the Deceiver.
Guitars bring consistent, evocative Scandinavian black metal, the bass is steady, drums natural, vocals hoarse and shrouded. The lyrical content is and remains consistent, most members have formed or continued bands exploring the same strains of forbidden knowledge.
Originally overlooked or frequently dismissed as derivative, this album does deserve attention approaching that still granted to bands from the same era.

Before and after EXCESSUM members have been active in the Swedish underground with bands such as MATRICIDE, HUMAN DEATH and THE ASCENDANT. Most recently guitarist/vocalist D.C. has been playing live with GRIFT.

Death Redemption remains a great work. The two new songs released this year are excellent, familiar EXCESSUM with 10 years of growth. We will see if this remains their final full length…